To be a soldier, a marine to be exact, is my husband’s frustration. It is his dream since childhood but he didn’t become one because of what happened to his eye. He is a big fan of World War specifically World War II. He has this complete set of WWII encyclopedia and books namely Resistance (WWII in Europe), The Rising Sun (WWII in Japan), Italian Campaign (WWII in Italy), The War In The Desert (WWII in Africa), Partisans And Guerillas (WWII in France, Island Fighting (WWII in the Islands of the Pacific), not to mention his history book of World War II and his WWII pocketbooks. He also has DVD collections of war movies and documentaries but his favorite among them all is his complete DVD set of HBO’s Band Of Brothers, a series from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. This is based on the bestseller novel by Stephen E. Ambrose.

Band of Brothers tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. This was drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers’ journals and letters. This series chronicles the experiences of these brave soldiers. My husband is watching it over and over. The last time was just last Sunday. I can’t count on my fingers as to how many times he watched it. He even mentioned that he wanted to buy the book so I thought of surprising him by giving it to him on his birthday.

Last Sunday night, while he was surfing the net, he found this site that is criticizing the Band of Brothers. It says that both the novel and the series are not realistic and that there were mixed ups. It says that some elements of the series were untrue, inaccurate or just plain different from reality. Also, the site is claiming that their research and resources are more extensive. After reading the reviews, my husband didn’t want to buy Stephen Ambrose’s book anymore and I can see the frustrations in his eyes.

Different writers had interviewed different soldiers and read different journals and letters resulting to different stories. It is hard to make a series that is exact replica of the real story. What really happened to Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101th Airborne Division of U.S. Army? Only the soldiers of the Easy Company knows. Despite this, I know my husband will remain a World War II fan. Now I don’t know what to give him on his birthday.